My brother-in-law, Jack Smith, and I had hunted area 27 in New Mexico three years ago, but it was very windy the entire time and we returned home empty-handed.
We were excited to draw a new unit in 2018. Unable to put together a scouting trip beforehand, we left early enough in the trip to get in an evening and a full day of scouting the area on a quad before opening day. We saw just one deer running into the brush during scouting. That’s some rugged area, but it was beautiful country. The weather was great but cold.
For two days of open season, we did a lot of riding, walking, and glassing but no deer. On the morning of the third day, Jack got a nice 3x3 buck. He had stopped briefly during spot and stalk when two deer moved in slowly behind him. He slowly got his rifle in position and made a clean shot. We were hunting separately, so I returned to retrieve the quad and met up with him, hiking out.
As we were heading back to retrieve his deer, he remarked that sometimes deer will return to the kill site, out of curiosity, I guess. Unbelievably, when we arrived, there was movement in the brush. I moved in slowly and soon saw a deer’s body through the brush and trees. It was broadside with its head and shoulder behind a tree, so I couldn’t tell the sex. As I was slowly changing position, he took off. It was a nice buck. Being slow on the draw or buck fever or both, I didn’t get a shot off.
I hunted the next day and most of the morning of the fifth day, seeing only two does. Thankfully, we headed home with at least one nice buck. It was a great hunt in a new area.
I want to thank Huntin’ Fool for providing access to their Member Draw List. They were helpful providing information on an area I had never been to before. Hunt Advisor Robert Hanneman also provided good information.
New Mexico Deer
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